Suzanne Woods Fisher

I’m sending you sunny wishes from Wilmington, North Carolina. My super publisher, Harvest House, just sent me the trailer for my January release, Loves Comes to Paradise. I love this trailer, especially the music.! Please click on the link and tell me what you think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBCYVRevxis

Also, for those of you who are fans of Amish fiction. I will be a guest on Amish Wisdom, Suzanne Woods Fisher’s wonderful radio/podcast show. She does an awesome job of interviewing guests, both in fiction and non-fiction alike, besides being an award-winning writer herself. Please tune in on Thursday Dec. 6th, if you have a chance. I will be posting a direct link to tune in anytime afterward as soon as it’s available.

In the meantime, enjoy your day wherever you are. Don’t worry too much about the upcoming holidays. Things will fall into place as they usually do. Wherever you are in getting ready, take heart–you’re way ahead of me!

I just read an interesting article in Publishers’ Weeklymagazine written by a friend of mine, Suzanne Woods Fisher. Suzanne is personally involved in the Old Order community on a regular basis. She reports that there is virtually no illiteracy in the Amish community, despite the small parochial schools, limited teaching materials and teachers with eighth grade educations. (however, these dedicated women train with veteran teachers and continue their own educations despite the lack of college degrees) Most Amish develop a love of reading which continues to serve them throughout their lives. Without the distraction of video games, TV and the internet, they read non-fiction and fiction alike. A few even pick up Amish romances but most don’t find books about them that intriguing. Suzanne quoted John Hostetler in Amish Society(in part) “On several standardized tests, Amish children performed significantly higher in spelling, word usage, and arithmetic than a sample of pupils in rural public schools.” As Suzanne writes in the article, maybe that will encourage more parents to turn off the TV and read to their kids.

Please enjoy this guest post from Suzanne Woods Fisher and enter to win a copy of Life with Lily! We have three to give away.

“Put the swing where the children want it. The grass will grow back.”Amish proverb

I’ve often heard that there is no better childhood than an Amish one. Mary Ann Kinsinger had such a childhood. She was raised in a happy Old Order Amish home in western Pennsylvania. A born storyteller, Mary Ann started a blog, A Joyful Chaos, as a way to capture the joy of her childhood.

A Joyful Chaos quickly gained a following among those who want to know more about the Amish. Here was a blog of a woman who had recently left the Amish church, but without bitterness or rancor. Just the opposite. Mary Ann’s blog captures what readers are looking for in Amish fiction books: charming family memories, a caring community, a collection of fun, quirky characters, all cast in a rural setting. And yet it’s real! All true.

One day, I e-mailed to ask if she was thinking of writing a book. “No,” she wrote back, “but I might be interested in collaborating.”

Fast forward a year or two. My friendship with Mary Ann continued to grow. So did her blog’s presence: A Joyful Chaos was receiving over 30,000 hits a month. It caught a mention in The New York Times. Mary Ann started a Facebook page. Remember, this was a woman who had stopped her formal schooling at eighth grade! But her education never stopped.

The time seemed right. We submitted a fiction series proposal for children, ages 8-12, to my publisher, Revell Books, inspired by Mary Ann’s childhood. Revell said “Yes!”

The Lily books are more than just another good children’s series—they’re a little slice of America, a peek into the world of a happy Amish family, fun and foibles. I have a hunch that children of all ages, 5-95, will quickly grow attached to Lily. But do you know what has surprised me the most about writing these books? Lily’s parents, Rachel and Daniel Lapp. Based on Mary Ann’s own parents, this young couple is the quintessence of wisdom and maturity. In Book 1, you’ll read a nail biting story when a difficult neighbor insists the property lines are incorrect and aims a shotgun at Lily’s father. Papa responds by…oh…I won’t spoil it. I’ll let you find out for yourself.

Life with Lily, book 1 in ‘The Adventures of Lily Lapp’ series, releases on October 1st and will be available wherever books are sold. Lily has a website, www.adventuresoflilylapp.com, that will be interactive for children: coloring pages can be downloaded, ask Lily a question, get recipes from her family, information about Lily’s parents and brothers and friends.

Mary Ann Kinsinger can be found at her blog: www.AJoyfulChaos.blogspot.com. She lives in the country in western Pennsylvania, not far from where she grew up. And she loves to hear from readers!

Suzanne Woods Fisher is a writer of bestselling fiction and non-fiction. She is the host of Amish Wisdom, a weekly radio program on toginet.com, and writes a bi-monthly column for Christian Post, called “Plain Talk about the Amish.” Suzanne enjoys connecting with readers and can be found on-line at www.suzannewoodsfisher.com.

If anyone’s in the market for a great cookbook, here’s one complied by Nicole O’Dell called Novel Morsels that’s available for just 2.99. It contain recipes from 65 Christian authors, recipes that appeared somewhere in their books. Yours truly is honored to be among the 65 contributors. click on this link for more info and ordering info:

Also, don’t forget to drop by the Vessel Project blog to read 5 things I’ll bet you didn’t know about me. this is a great blog by Keiki Hendrix who features a different author each week. Here’s the link:

And before I forget, get yourself down to Amish Country this Saturday if you’ll be in Ohio and drop by The Gospel Bookstore in Berlin on Oak Street. Friends of mine Suzanne Woods Fisher, Jerry Eicher and many, many more (30!) will be signing books. Wish I could be with them, but I had a previous committment. Tell them I say “Hi”.

And don’t forget that Amy Clipson, Vannetta Chapman and Shelley Shepard Gray are on their “grand Amish Country Tour”. These 3 are great writers and lovely women so check out this link if you live in Ohio, Indiana or PA. http://zndr.vn/AmishCountryTour You can buy a signed book which would make a great Christmas gift!

Hello folks, sorry for the late notice. I just found out I will be interviewed tomorrow, Thursday Sept. 15th, on Suzanne Woods Fisher’s fabulous podcast/radio show Amish Wisdom. This is such an honor. Susanne is a super writer and a very nice person. You can listen live from 5:00-5:30 Eastern time or 4:00-4:30 Central time, or anytime you get a chance by clicking on this link:

I hope fans of Amish fiction will click on the link below to tune into my interview on “Amish Wisdom”. This is a podcast show with hostess, Suzanne Woods Fisher, that runs from 5:00 to 6:00 pm Eastern time zone on Toginet radio.

Each week Suzanne talks about ways to simplifiy your life and also interviews various authors of Amish ficiton. Tune in for helpful hints and interesting stories about the fascinating Christian society of the Amish. My interview took place last Thursday, July 29th, and I thank Suzanne for the great opportunity to talk “Amish.” www.toginet.com/shows/amishwisdom

You can click on past shows in the archives to catch up with those you missed. Enjoy!

Also, please click on this link to enter a contest to win one of five free books, my latest release.